IT WAS the wettest May recorded in Loughborough since 1932 a period of 84 years!

124mm of rain fell at Nanpantan with 121mm falling at Mountsorrel.

"Most of the rain fell in just seven days between May 22 and May 29. Indeed over 90mm fell in this period to be precise and this made it the wettest week I have ever personally recorded," said Echo weather expert Phil Morrish.

It was also a very mild month with temperatures above average both night and day. Afternoon temperatures averaged 16.8c 0.6c above normal while night time temperatures averaged 9c 3.1c above normal so the warm muggy nights were responsible for the above average temperatures for the month.

Sunshine figures totalled 159 hours which was 12 per cent below average. Winds for the month were mainly light and averaged just 3.7 miles per hour with the top gust of 33mph being recorded on the May 9.

There was very different weather in each of the four weeks of May. The first few days were cool with a max of just 12.8c on the 2nd with Jim recording the only frost of the month that night with temperatures dropping to -1.5c.

The next 10 days brought some showers but rainfall totals at this stage were fairly modest. The weather changed suddenly on the 14th when a strong ridge from the Azores settled over the UK.

The period 14-21st saw 85 hours of sunshine and on the 18th it shone for 14.2 hours our sunniest day so far this year. Temperatures at Nanpantan touched 25c on the 17th and the 19th and it was a gloriously sunny week.

However the High moved away and Low pressure from the continent gave us a week long deluge and just 14 hours of sun.

Such a marked contrast between these two May weeks has rarely been witnessed before.

Flooding did become a problem at the end of the week but an initially low water table meant that most of the rain soaked into the ground until the later part of the week.

Had all of this 90mm gone straight into the river the flooding would have been catastrophic.

So once again this month gave us plenty to talk about alternating between blazing sunshine then pouring rain but then that’s the British weather for you!